Many Of Horror
by smudgen2008
Summary: A Dark Past, a new job and a Sex God. What could possibly go wrong? AH/AU Set in London, Slightly OOC, Cannon pairings, M for language and content.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. *sigh***

**Prelude**

I watched from the bottom of the hill, it wasn't my place to intrude. I watched as the strong man before me bent at the waist, convulsing in agony, knowing the this would be closing a chapter of his life, of my life also. He visibly pulled himself together too soon after letting go, opened the urn and let out her ashes, disappearing back into nature, just as she would've wanted. He stood for a further few moments, with tears streaking down his cheeks. I was intruding, I knew he didn't really want me here, I wouldn't want me here, but I needed this also. It was my last goodbye as much as it was his.

A/N: Hello! This is my first Twilight Fic and my first multi-chapter fic, so wish me luck! I'm open to any feedback to please review, it would be much appreciated.

**I intend to update this story every Saturday, so we'll see how that goes! **

**As this is just the prelude I will also add chapter 1 today! Enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 1: 9 to 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

**Chapter 1**

"Bella, unless you get your arse out of bed now, you're going to be late!" I opened my eyes and groaned when I saw it was just after eight. I heaved myself out of bed and walked down the narrow corridor to the dingy kitchen.

"You really need to purchase an alarm clock if you don't want to be fired for lack of punctuality on your first day." Ah yes, that was Rose, blunt as ever, but always truthful. She stood in the centre of the room, holding out a coffee for me, which I promptly devoured. Rose snorted as she watched me jump into action, dazedly getting ready in the ten minutes I'd allowed myself, whilst she stood looking criminally primed and beautiful for that time of the morning.

"I'll meet you for a drink after work at say, six? Fox and Hound?"

"Sure! Wish me luck!" She just sent me a smirk as I dashed out of the door, moving straight to the tube, ready to play a human sardine, packed into a tin can for the twenty minute commute to Cullen Industries. As the doors slammed shut I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing I had just allowed myself enough time to get to work without being late. It was luck really that I had managed to get a job at Cullen Industries. I studied English Literature at Exeter University; to get by I was a waitress in a well-known fish restaurant in the area. One service when the boss, or the dragon as she was known, was otherwise indisposed everything was somewhat falling apart. It was clear that the whole service was going to be a disaster so I stepped up and saved the day. It just so happened that the CEO Cullen Industries was in the restaurant and offered me a job as his personal assistant on the spot. I would have been a fool to turn it down and I knew I had a friend in Rose in London, so I took the Job.

I made it to the office building on time and after asking for directions from the receptionist made my way up to the twenty-ninth floor, where I would meet Emmet McCarthy, who would explain my responsibilities and get me settled in. When I arrived, I was in a plush lobby, with oak panelled walls, a cream leather sofa and a large a mahogany desk sitting empty. I kept a cool, calm facial expression, clearly expelling the I-have-a-job-to-do vibe, though on the inside I was squealing like a little girl for getting so lucky.

"Ah, Miss Swan I see you've arrived right on time, start as you mean to go on and all that," a large, burly man I knew to be Mr McCarthy said from his office door, greeted with a friendly smile. He was tall and built like a rugby player, I'm sure had I met him down a dark ally I would have been terrified of him, however his boyish grin accented by the cutest dimples clearly showed me that he was harmless. He was quick to get me settled in behind my desk and explained my basic responsibilities, which we had of course already gone through when drawing up my contract. I was to set out his diary, make sure he gets to meetings on time, answer the phone, deal with his guests and complete some of the basic paper work he had to do. I was fully expecting to be used as some sort of tea girl also, but he quickly explained that procrastinating was one of his favourite pass times, so he would be getting the coffee. By the end of our chat I felt completely at ease with my new position and I felt good.

I spent the morning getting into the swing of things and by lunchtime I felt confident that I was a strong candidate for the job, not just a spontaneous mistake on the part of Mr McCarthy. When I entered the lunchroom I earned a few stares. I felt a bit like the new girl in school, a notion that made me giggle, given that I had never been to more than two schools in my life; my primary and my secondary. I had no clue what it was like to be the new girl in school.

"Hi, I'm Emily, you're new, no need to look so worried, you can come and sit with us if you like, is it true you're McCarthy's new PA and that he picked you up in a restaurant on holiday or something?" I blinked several times having been rudely interrupted from my internal monologue, looking at the girl before me incredulously. I was pretty certain she hadn't taken a breath through out her entire speech. I just nodded dumbly, grabbed a salad and apple, handed in my employee card and followed her blindly over to a table at which another two women and three men sat. They all looked friendly enough, but again, I found myself thinking back to the school analogy. It was all superficial and fake smiles and I soon discovered why. Apparently it was rare for a girl just out of uni to get a job as high ranking, dealing with such important people. It seemed I was the formula to get to where all these people wanted to be, so by associating themselves with me as much as possible they naively thought they might magically get a promotion. I'd never been "that" girl before, the one everyone aspired to be, nor did I aspire to be her. As a result the entire lunch was a bit of an outer body experience and I came to the conclusion I would be eating lunch at my desk from now on, where I felt comfortable.

Upon my return from lunch I continued in much the same vein as I had that morning. I hadn't seen Mr McCarthy since before lunch and I knew he didn't have a meeting so I assumed he was just working in his office, or procrastinating as he would probably put it, and I must admit my concentration was lacking somewhat and I soon found myself lagging into a daydream. The crash of Mr McCarthy's door being flung open jolted me firm my daydream as I looked over to see one of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen, cliché I know but he really was. He had the messiest array of muddy brown hair, he had cheekbones to put any Hollywood movie star to shame, he had the most glorious chiselled chest and toned arms and his luscious lips were formed in the most provocative pout. I let my eyes roam up and down his body until my eyes connected with the clearest green yes I had ever seen and they were angry. Furious even, I was frightened for a moment, thinking he was angry at my lack of professionalism at checking him out, but then he stormed passed me and hit the button for the elevator. As he did so Mr McCarthy emerged from his office behind him and I realised this all must have happened in a few seconds.

"Edward, come on, you're being ridiculous, you need to get over this shit and move on."

"Yeah, well Em it isn't that simple so why don't you just fuck off." The elevator arrived then and the mysterious Edward, with one final hateful glare at Mr McCarthy, was gone. My eyes had widened at Mr McCarthy's casual use of expletive and he glanced at me in apology.

"I must apologise for my brother Miss Swan, he struggles to understand the meaning of keeping business and family separate." He smiled softly at me before retreating back to his office and I was left in awe. That perfect specimen of man, that Greek God who's, if I may say so with slight embarrassment, angered stare made my lady parts moist, was, my Boss's _brother_. So, maybe I was coming up with an elaborate scheme to discover which department he worked in so I could find a way to see him again, but his brother? No. It was time for me to put that one to bed before it even woke up. I also had to chastise myself for being so distracted by his good looks that I failed to notice he wasn't in business dress, but now I thought about it, in a gorgeously tight long sleeved v-neck and Levis. _Yum_. No. I wasn't going to go there, I had to remind myself. It was an eye-opening situation. Since when had I become nothing but a horny twenty something year old? Frightened at my own behaviour I put the entire incident to the back of my mind and concentrated on my work for the rest of the afternoon.

At half past five I packed up my belongings, saying a brief fair well to Mr McCarthy who once again apologised for his brother's behaviour, before making my way out of the building to meet up with Rose. As I made my way out of the building I scowled up at the sky, making a silent threat to the clouds above me.

"I'm sorry." A smooth voice came out of nowhere, startling me. "I didn't mean to startle you," the voice came again and I turned around to find the sex god only inches behind me. I stared at him dumbly for a few moments before coming to my senses and trying to formulate an answer.

"Did you just apologise for startling me when the apology in the first place is what startled me?" He chuckled, amusement replacing the fury I had seen in his eyes a few hours previously.

"I apologise for acting like a delinquent earlier. I realise that's not what you wanted or were expecting to see on your first day." I raise my eyebrows in surprise. "Yes, Em mentioned it was your first day, in fact he's very proud of finding you. Something to do with fish. I don't know, I'll be honest; I wasn't particularly interested in you. That is, until I saw you."

"So what, now you've seen me I'm suddenly interesting? You wouldn't be objectulising me, would you Mr McCarthy?" I ask only half joking.

"Like you weren't sizing me up like a piece of meet in a butchers when I first came out of my brother's office. And I think you like what you see, just as I do."

"Touché Mr McCarthy. I'm still struggling to understand the purpose of this conversation as something tells me it isn't for an insincere apology." I say, checking me watch in frustration. I was meeting Rose and if I didn't leave soon I knew I would be late. Not that I wasn't enjoying having a conversation with the sex god or anything.

"You certainly take no prisoners do you Miss Swan?" He was still amused and I was beginning to find him infuriating. "Come for a drink with me." It was a statement not a request.

"So having openly admitted that we are only talking to one another because of what we look like, you want me to go for a drink with you?"

"Why not?"

"Why should I? Besides, I can't I'm meeting a friend, who if I don't meet now will be waiting and she's very impatient." With that I walked away, however before I got out of ear shot he called out to me "I don't take kindly to being told no Miss Swan, you will come for a drink with me. I'll see you soon." I turned around to retaliate against his assumption, but when I did he'd disappeared. Slightly bewildered I continued my journey, filled with anticipation of when I would next meet the sex god.

**AN: There you have it, please let me know what you think, I am excited for this.**


	3. Chapter 2: Fever

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight :(**

**Chapter 2**

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I groaned as I woke to a splitting headache. I vaguely noted that Rose had purchased me an alarm clock as I legged it to the bathroom and promptly deposited the contents of my stomach into the toilet. "Great", I thought, "I get to start my second day at work with a hangover, Whoopi!" At that I remembered precisely how I had come to be quite so hung over.

"_So let me get this straight, you got your Boss's brother asking you out on your first day at work, because you're hot?" Rose giggled, by this point we were both a tad tipsy, when I arrived apparently I looked as if I was desperate for a drink, given that Rose had immediately ordered me a tequila shot. Now, I'm the first to admit that I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to taking my drink, so with a glass and a half of wine on top of that I was distinctly tipsy._

"_Yes, but you missed out that he's a SEX GOD! Honestly, I've never seen anyone better looking. Like, EVER!" We both howled with laughter as we got a refill, and so the night went on._

I groaned again, but this time at my own shameful behaviour. Clearly not only am I a lightweight, but on the occasion it seems I was an embarrassing drunk. Great. Still, at least the sex god wasn't there to witness my less than lady like words.

I shook myself out of the memories and wandered into the kitchen, where Rose held out a mug of coffee to me. De ja vu, Great. I looked Rose up and down sighed in annoyance; there was no sign of excessive drinking from the night before at all. She looked perfect. Not. Fair. Rose was a tall, leggy, beautiful blonde and had the brains to go with it. She was an investment banker and a good one at that. We'd met at on our first day of secondary school and had been best friends ever since. I'd been with her when she lost her parents and she stuck by my side through... through everything I'd been through. Here she was sticking with me now, helping me through my hangover. But still, that doesn't mean I can't be jealous of he on occasion. I mean, regardless of what the Sex God implied I was, I am plain. I'm not ugly, but not particularly beautiful either; with brown hair, brown eyes and small body in every way imaginable.

Anyway, all that puking had taken up the extra time that my alarm clock gave me and I had the same dazed experience of getting ready for work as I did the previous day. When I arrived the hours went by much the same as the first, just without the horrible lunch experience and much to my disappointment with no reappearance of the Sex God. "That's good" I tried telling myself, "That means you won't get fired for fucking the Boss' brother." Despite this, there was still a part of me that wished he would come through on his parting threat.

That's how my days went by for the next few weeks, going to work, me hoping to catch a glimpse of the Sex God, before returning to the flat disappointed. I spent my weekends with Rose getting to know the city and drinking too much, which is how I ended up stood awkwardly in "Bar Viva" during their monthly open mic night, where I would be meeting two of Rose's closest friends here for the first time. Saying I was daunted would be an understatement, I was terrified that they wouldn't like me and then Rose would kick me out. What can I say? I had abandonment issues. So there I stood sipping a glass of wine looking like plane Jane stood next to Rose in all her sparkly dress and "Fuck me" heels, I on the other hand had opted for a pair of skinny jeans which hugged my figure with a simple strappy top and uggs. Don't judge, when I'm feeling the abandonment I opt for comfort over style.

"Look over there" Rose was pointing over towards the exit at a tall man with the sandy blond hair who was with a much shorter woman, who had her dark hair crimped into a buzz of chaos, wearing an equally sparkly dress as Rose, though I suspect she had enlisted the aid of a surgeon to distinguish her boobs, "They're here!" It's at times like those I envy men. Why is it OK for them to go out, wearing a pair of jeans and a nice shirt, whilst girls are expected to spend hours getting ready? Well, clearly that night I was protesting society's expectations of ladies fashion and was aware that I wouldn't be getting laid because of it. (Which was fine because I didn't want to get laid by anyone but the Sex God, though I wasn't admitting it to myself at the time.)

"ROSE! OMG! IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU!" I wanted to die right there. Was there really that great a need to shout? Really? I don't think so. So it's been a couple of weeks since you've last seen your friend. Great. No need to tell the whole fucking bar.

"JESSICA! I KNOW! IT'S BEEN TO LONG!" I was of in a state of shock and horror. I wanted to ask the person before me who she was and what she had done with Rose. My best friend didn't' shout in a high-pitched voice and she most certainly did not squeal. I suddenly felt as if I'd entered the twilight zone. Bizarre.

"Right, introductions, Jessica, Mike, this is my bestest and oldest friend Bella Swan." Rose seemed to have lost the ability to use real words, I wanted to die. I gave her friends the closest to a smile I could manage given the circumstances and Rose and Jessica were soon deep in conversation, punctuated here and there with squeals. A chuckle from behind reminded me there was more than the three of us in our little party.

"They can be a little difficult at times, but you'll get used to it... eventually." I turned to Mike, who was handsome in a rugged kind of a way. I giggled in response, which earned me a wide grin.

We continued amiable conversation for the next few minutes in which I was quick to establish that we shared a similar sense of humour, whilst studiously ignoring any association with the girls beside us. Soon the lights dimmed and the audience quietened. It hadn't occurred to me until then that I was at an open mic night.

"That's my cue," Mike grinned at me sheepishly, as my mouth dropped open in an O of surprise. He grabbed a guitar that I had yet to notice, I made a mental note that perhaps I should get my eyes tested, and made his way to the stage, well raised platform would be a more accurate description. When he stood behind the single mic set up on stage and raised this guitar the two girls beside me screamed, and I mean screamed. My only reaction was to glare at Mike; offended he'd leave me with the birds.

As irritated I was by my companions I had to admit that I was impressed with his music, and it became obvious through his lyrics that Jessica was very much his muse. I noted with vague surprise that I wasn't disappointed that he was clearly off the market, as he finished his set and a squealing a Jessica ran to him and devoured his mouth. Message sent, loud and clear. I chuckled, shaking my head as the others joined us and we waited for the next act.

The noise level rose once again during the change over of the act. I took the opportunity to get in another round of drinks. By the time I made my way back to our group the audience were quieting down again and the next act took to the stage. When I looked up I'm pretty sure I gaped like a gold fish. I suddenly found myself staring into those same green eyes I had way back on my first day of work, however this time they were not full of anger, but full of surprise, a look which I'm sure would have been mirrored in my gaze. Just as suddenly as it came, his stare was gone as he looked way and began his set. Well, if I'd thought Mike was talented, Edward was positively a genius. His voice was so smooth and I was more than a little embarrassed to discover it was doing just moist things to my down below. "Seriously?" I thought, "The Sex God starts singing and suddenly you're a pile of goo?" Yes, I did indeed describe myself as goo. I really needed to stay as far away from the Sex God as possible.

At the end of his set the audience, quite rightly, went wild, well, wilder than they did for Mike anyway, bless him. I cheered along with everyone else as, once again, the noise level in the venue rose slowly with the break between the Sex God and the final act.

"I'm just going to the little girls room," I let the guys know. Well, if you can't beat them, join them with their stupid vocabulary. I wondered through the crowds to the toilets and quickly did my business, taking the time to groan once more at my ridiculously out of place attire in the mirror. As I left the bathroom I suddenly found myself pinned against a wall, face to face with none other than the Sex God himself.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were stalking me Miss Swan." Oh, suddenly I remember he's an infuriating, arrogant arse.

"I thought you were the one who wouldn't take no for an answer Mr McCarthy," I retorted, knowing I'd have him.

"So, you haven't been desperately looking for me everyday, hoping I'd turn up to have another row with my brother then?" Oh sod you mister.

"I'm here enjoying watching one of my friends perform," I say, indicating over to Mike, "This has nothing to do with you and I'd like to get beck to them now, thank you very much." I eye his arms, which are still pinning me to the wall. He let me go so I rushed back to my companions.

"Ah Mike, you were great up there as usual."

"Edward, thanks mate, but you were better and you know it," Mike pulled Edward in for a "man hug," much to my horror. "Guys this is a good friend of mine Edward, you already know Jessica, but this is Rose and Bella." He held out his hand to Rose and swiftly placed a kiss on the back of it, before doing the same with mine. I think I swooned a bit inside. Sneaky Bastard.

"It's a pleasure to make the acquaintance of such beautiful women," he said smoothly before flashing us the most moisture creating smile. Rose was sold, I could see it by the size of her eyes. I, on the other hand, was less than impressed with his ability of ruining, well maybe making, my night entirely by forcing me to spend it in his company and feigning complete ignorance to any previous acquaintance we had.

Edward proceeded to spend the night with us and merged into the group seamlessly, well, better than I did anyhow. It was a great opportunity to put more details into my image of him as the perfect Sex God. It appears that he is the "artist" of the McCarthy family, providing a fair amount of tension within the unit. The McCarthys were, of course one of the wealthiest families in the country, with his father a leading surgeon, his mother one of the biggest names in humanitarian aid and, obviously his brother Emmet, CEO of Cullen industries, which made its first million when he was just twenty four years old. What was really notable was that he didn't mention his heritage at all, all of the information previously stated I concluded from he information I already knew about he family. In fact, it was almost as if he was purposefully not mentioning his powerful family.

By the end of the night it was apparent to me that no one here knew where Edward McCarthy came from, I was unsurprised to discover towards the end of the evening that Mike knew him not by the name McCarthy, but by the name Mason. _My, my Sex God, I have one up on you,_ I remember thinking, but I got the distinct impression that there was a real reason as to why he was going under an alias and vowed to discover the full story next time. _Next time? There's going to be a next time? I thought he was an infuriating arrogant arse... _My inner voice was really starting to get on my nerves. Besides, what did she know? Nothing, for if she knew what was to come I'm sure she'd be crying in a corner with disappointment.

"No, I'm not saying he was perfect, but even you as the Virgin Mary has to admit that he was HOT with capitol letters _and _he gave you his number. Call him, go for a drink... dinner... dancing, hell, I don't know, but go on a date. It's about time you got laid."

"We both know I'm no Virgin Mary, Rose, and NO, I am not calling him." I say frustrated at her jibes towards my sex life. I had a perfectly satisfactory sex life thank you very much, with Big John, my hand and I, _I_ could have fuck awesome orgasms whenever I like, without the hassle and the emotional trauma that comes with having a partner. It's not that there weren't people who were willing to go out with me, it was a lifestyle choice.

"Yes. You. Are. If you don't call him, I will and I'll arrange for him to take you out, picking you up from here so you have no idea when to be out to avoid him. This date is happening whether you like it or not." She wasn't going to be put off easily, she looked determined, so I pulled out my "sad face" which always pulled on her heart strings and made her feel guilty. It was the tool that made our friendship survive, that and her "Bitch Stare" which made everybody cringe away, including me. She sighed compassionately at the sight of the sad face and smiled kindly art me. "I know, I understand that you are wary of making any close relationships after all you have been through, especially with a man, but I really think you should give this a go. I have a good feeling about the whole thing. Besides you need to move on from your past. Yes something pretty shit happened, but you can't just stop living your lives, even if you don't think you deserve it. I'm telling you that you deserve it. Also, you've gotta admit he's really is fuck hot."

I smiled appreciatively at her attempt to lighten the tone at the end of her little speech. I knew what she was saying was true. I wasn't living my life to the full because I _didn't _deserve it. However, it wasn't my issues or fucked up past that was causing me to say no. It was that going on a date with my Boss' brother, who just so happened to look like a Sex God was really not a good idea, regardless of how much my cooch may appreciate it. _My cooch?_ I had definitely been spending too much time with Jessica. The issue was I could hardly tell Rose the real reason. I mean how would that go, "Hey, Rose, I appreciate the concern, but I can't go out with him because he's that Sex God I told you about form my first day at work, you know the infuriating Cock who happens to be my Boss' brother. I didn't tell you yesterday because he seems to go under the alias Edward Mason and I was just following his lead because I'm a bit of a nosey selfish bitch who wanted to find out his secrets and yes I would quite like him to fuck me, but I'd also like to keep my job." Yeah, that would've gone down really well. So in the end just to avoid confrontation I agreed to call him and within seconds my phone was in my hand.

"It's ringing," Rose beamed as I gaped at her, "As my mother always says strike while the Iron is hot. Now, I'll give you some privacy, good luck!"

I hesitantly put the phone to my ear. It only rang twice before a silky smooth voice which could only belong to my Sex God answered. "Hello?"

"Hi... it's ... uh ... Bella ... Bella Swan... I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime because my friend, the one who was with my last night, is holding me hostage until I call you because she thinks you're fuck hot and that I need to get laid," I blurted out in one breath after my initial stuttering. Clearly my brain filter was not switched on that morning and I instinctively cringed at his answering chuckle, waiting for his inevitably infuriating response.

"You can be so endearing," _Huh? Endearing? Me? Huh? _Completely taken aback by his response I waited for him to continue. "I'd love to go out sometime and you can tell me how a beautiful woman as yourself can be in need of getting laid." Ah, there he is, the arrogant arse I remember.

"I'm not going to fall for your cheap lines like everyone else might, Mr _McCarthy." _

"Ah, I was just paying a beautiful woman a complement. I am pleased to see you haven't lost your snark attitude Miss Swan. Now, I came through on the promise of a drink, so I guess we're onto the dinner stage now are we?"

"We're only onto the dinner stage of our relationship if in said dinner you tell me why you're going under the alias of Edward Mason."

"Only if you tell me why you haven't been with anybody for a while," I gasped, "Have you never heard the saying an eye for an eye Miss Swan?"

"I see your as infuriating as ever Mr McCarthy. I can't do next Saturday, but I can do any of the days next week."

"How fortunate, I can't do next Saturday either. So, Thursday. Half Seven. We won't go anywhere too up market, I know you don't like dressing up." Cheeky sod.

"OK, Where shall we meet?"

"I'll pick you up."

"But you..." I begin, but I hear the dial tone He hung up on me. The _cheeky sod. _I think again. How was he expecting to pick me up when he didn't know where I lived. Well, serves him right for being such an arse, no dinner date for him. I let Rose know who gave me a disappointed, sympathetic look before drawing me in for a completely over the top hug, as if she was expecting me to fall apart. Why should I? I wasn't some weak little girl. Besides, to cheer myself up I had some personal time with Big John, trying to bury the longing deep in the pit of my stomach to have the Sex God bringing me to such pleasure.

**A/N Thanks to my wonderful BETA, Vicky- Love you! **

**Reviews are appriciated. :)  
**


	4. Chapter 3: Alive

Disclaimer: I STILL don't own Twilight. ;)

**Chapter 3**

I went to the work the next day, just as I had been doing the last few weeks, with a smile on my face. I really was enjoying my job and Mr McCarthy always made sure I knew exactly how valued I was as an employee. I got the impression that if I wasn't there he would never get any work done. Several times I had walked into his office, without knocking because Mr McCarthy had insisted upon a no knocking policy unless he had a guest, to find him shooting hoops. You see, he had a relatively generic office, with a neutral colour scheme, potted plant and view over the city, but attached to the far wall, opposite his desk was a basketball hoop, which it seemed to me provided him with endless entertainment. A great proportion of my job appeared to be making sure that Mr McCarthy actually did some work each day. I was finding it very difficult to comprehend precisely how he had managed to become a multi-millionaire at the age of twenty-eight with such a bad work ethic. Still, I didn't mind, he was paying me a very generous salary and was quickly becoming more of a friend than a boss.

I had made such an impression on the company that I was one of twenty employees who got an invite to Esme Cullen, Emmett's adoptive mother's, annual charity ball. I tried to turn down the offer, given my hatred for dressing up, by using the excuse of my obvious lack of date. However he insisted sighting that I could bring my roommate, which is how I ended up trawling round Oxford Street that evening with a very excited best friend looking for "the perfect ball gown." Apparently she had brushed off her failure to match - make me with the Sex God by convincing herself that we were both going to find our soul mates at this ball. _Yeah right, we're going to find our soul mates in the upper elite, sure. _I was not impressed, besides, we were just going to embarrass ourselves anyway, after all it was a charity event and in the eyes of those who would be going we had very little to give.

None the less, here I was in a dressing room in Selfridges trying on dresses that were way too expensive. I tried on each dress, before concluding each of them was as horrible as the next. I only had one dress left; the one Rose had forced me into the dressing room with, claiming it was "the" dress. It was strapless, floor length and midnight blue in colour, and my trusty friend swore the colour would compliment my skin tone perfectly. It was also Alexander McQueen. It cost three thousand pounds. Too much. Yet still I had promised Rose I would try it on, and true to my word I did and was shocked by what I found. She was right it _was _the perfect dress. It still cost three thousand pounds. So the one dress I had found wasn't affordable. Great, somehow this felt like a metaphor for my life.

"You really didn't have to do that you know, we would've found another dress that was perfectly adequate for under a thousand pounds."

"No, that was "the" dress Bella, you could see it, just as I could. Besides, you deserve some happiness," _So you keep saying, "_think of it as a present."

"There is no way that I'm accepting a three thousand pound dress as a present, I know you have more money than I do, but still. I will pay you back even if it takes the rest of my life."

"_OK_, I see I'm not going to win this argument, but there is no hurry and I won't be chasing you for the money." She slowed her speech toward the end, as if she were speaking to a moron, a bit like the ignorant British tourists do when they go abroad.

The next few days continued in a similar mundane way to Monday, with the exception of Wednesday lunchtime, when the Sex God turned up. Mr McCarthy had noticed after my first week of work that I was uncomfortable eating in the cafeteria, saying he understood how I felt and that most of the people I would meet down there were leaches. As a result we'd started having lunch together in his office, followed by a game of miniature basketball, which he would generally kick my arse at, when he was on site at lunch. It was mid game, well my mid lay up to be precise, that Edward had burst in on rather dramatically and had made me instinctively defensive, which caused me to throw the ball at him. He caught it expertly of course, preventing any potential injury to his head, of which the ball was on a collision course with, looking mildly surprised.

"What have I told you? Well, maybe you'll actually knock next time now you know there's a danger of ball." Mr McCarthy broke a moment of tense silence. His comment was met with more silence until the Sex God, I mean Edward, started laughing and within about ten seconds we were all in hysterics. Once he'd managed to gather himself together Mr McCarthy was all business. "Is there anything you wanted or are we just going to stand around laughing all afternoon?"

"Well, yes there is actually..." Edward replied trailing off, giving me a pointed look. _Why is he looking at me? What? Huh? Oh, OH!_

"I'll just..." I trailed off, pointing towards the door, before scurrying out. How awkward. I must admit I did feel a twinge of disappointment that he didn't seem to be there to see me. He really was an arse. But he did look rather good in that leather jacket... and I daydreamed for I'm not sure how long I was drawn out of it by the office door opening, in a much less violent way than the last time the Sex God had opened it. Our eyes met and he sent me that smirk that made my lady parts feel like flying over to him and giving him a big sloppy kiss. Sometimes I surprise myself at how my mind works. I was expecting him to acknowledge me in some way, but he just walked to the elevator and waited for it to arrive, studiously ignoring me. When the ding indicating the arrival of the lift was heard he turned to me, gave me a blazing stare and whispered in a husky tone "See you tomorrow," before stepping in the elevator and punching the button for the ground floor. He had once again left me gaping. Gaping like a fish. The things that man did to me really frightened me sometimes. Maybe I was going out on Thursday after all.

When I got in on Thursday I changed out of my work clothes, into a pair of tight black skinny jeans and a long, maroon sweater dress partnered with a pair of metallic ballet flats, leaving my hair down. Rose immediately knew I had gotten dressed up on the off chance that Edward did come to take me out to dinner and obviously didn't think he was coming by the sympathetic look she shot me. I glanced at the clock to see I had fifteen minutes before half seven when he was going to stand me up and make me look like an idiot. Those minutes passed in complete silence, with me sat on one of our couches with Rose literally tip toeing around me.

At half past seven exactly the buzzer rang, indicating there was someone at the door, making us both jump. Rose answered the door as I applied some lip-gloss and smoothed out my clothes in a nervous gesture.

When Edward made it up to our flat I decided that he definitely deserved his title as Sex God. He was wearing a pair of faded denim jeans with a black button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His hair was a beautiful messy array, which looked like he had been running his hands through it several times. He looked positively edible. If that wasn't dreamy enough, he had in his hand a large bouquet of flowers, which I'm pretty sure put an ear splitting grin on my face. Hardly the seductive temptress I should probably have been trying to be. We both stood staring at each other, me with that silly grin and him with a lopsided smirk, without saying a word whilst Rose sort of fluttered around us. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few seconds she took the flowers from Edward promising to put them in water before practically pushing us out the door. I followed him outside where he unlocked a car and opened the passenger door for me to get in. Only when I realised what car I was getting into did I break the silence and start to giggle.

"What?" He asked and oh, even just a syllable of hat voice gave me that tight feeling in my stomach.

"You... drive... a... Volvo" I managed to get out between laughs. He scowled at me, clearly unimpressed with my reaction to his choice of car.

"What's so funny about that?"

"It's what that vampire guy drives in those books." He clearly didn't understand what I found so fun and only gave me a look that said, "Whatever you say" in reply. What I had missed out in my explanation was that on those books the principle male was supposed to by the perfect guy personified and I had been fantasising all that week about how I could have a date with the perfect guy. How ironic.

The remainder of the journey made to our destination was completed in relative silence, with just small talk made, really it was a bit awkward and I was beginning to wonder if I'd seriously offended him by laughing at his car. What can I say? Boys and their toys. After a few minutes of silence, when it had become apparent that our journey may take some time as he negotiated the London traffic, Edward turned on the car stereo and I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face as the lilting riff of Pearl Jam's "Alive" filled the silence. Edward noticed my obvious pleasure at his choice in music and smirked at me cockily, some things never change. I was pleasantly surprised when he started to sing in that glorious voice I had heard the previous week, smiling I joined in also and by the time the song had finished we both laughed, the awkward atmosphere effectively erased.

We drove to a multi-story car park near the centre of the city and quickly parked on the ground floor. I went to get out, but before I had the chance Sex God had opened my door for me, how gentlemanly. The walk to the restaurant only took a couple of minutes. He'd chosen a quaint little Italian, which was buzzing with activity, yet was still small and quiet enough to feel intimate. We were sat by our waiter towards the back of the restaurant in a booth specially designed for two. I spotted Edward slip him a tip, clearly our seating arrangements had been requested, so much for the average guy act he was putting on for my friends, still I knew his secret so why hide I suppose. We were handed our menus and sat quietly contemplating what feast we were going to have for dinner.

"Do you see anything you... _fancy_?" I nearly snorted at his blatantly obvious attempt at flirting, however that wouldn't have been very lady like, so I settled on a girly giggle. Yes, I did just say girly giggle, I liked the guy, I didn't want him to think I was a wench.

"I actually really like the look of the Penne Zafferanno," I said, deliberately ignoring his bait and derailing his frankly pathetic attempt at seduction.

"So do I Miss Swan, its clear us great minds think alike, would a Sauvignon Blanc suffice to drink?" _Good boy, _I thought, _we're not here to mindlessly flirt; I would like to get the dirt on you._

The waiter came and took our order and we sat, staring at one another until the wine arrived, distracting us from our tense silence.

"You know Miss Swan, I didn't bring you out so we can sit here in silence. Now, we had an agreement on the phone. Why are you in need of getting laid? I'm sure someone as beautiful as you wouldn't having any trouble finding someone," and his sickly sweet charm had made a reappearance.

"Well Mr McCarthy, at no point did _I_ say that I was in need of getting laid, just that Rose thought I was."

"Then why does Rose think you're in need of getting laid?" He said, not put off by my half answer.

"She thinks I need to get laid because I haven't gotten any in a while. And I haven't gotten any in a while because I prefer gaining my sexual satisfaction through the use of implements, with out the baggage and emotional drainage that accompanies having a partner. It's a lifestyle choice." My response was met by silence, with Edward sat staring at me open mouthed. I wasn't sure if it was because I had just openly admitted to masturbating frequently or if it was because I had stated I wasn't interested in having a boyfriend.

"So if your lifestyle choice is to not have any contact with men why are you out tonight?" Ah, he had asked me the question I had been dreading. Why was I on a date with him? _Because he's a Sex God who does amazing things to your V-Jay. _Yeah, that's definitely why.

"I don't know," was my only response, "I have now upheld my side of the bargain it's time you upheld yours. Why do you go by the alias of Mason?"

"It's a lifestyle choice," was his reply, _well fuck you then, oh yes please, _was my thought process. "McCarthy is not, nor has it ever been my name you just assumed and I decided not to correct you. Mason it not my real name either, I use that name because I want to be able to make money from my music, but I don't what people's judgements to be clouded by my heritage, the Cullen heritage, so I use a stage name. It's not a crime." He tried to put amusement into his voice, but it was forced. Clearly there was more to his name than he was letting on. Mind you, there was more to my lack of sex life than I was letting on. I guess we were even.

The rest of the evening passed amiably, though it was painfully obvious that we were making small talk to avoid the fact that there were already things we weren't being honest with one another about. Once we were back at my flat and he had escorted me to my door (such a gentleman) we had that awkward moment where neither of us quite knew what to do.

"So," Edward said, breaking the silence first, "So maybe this wasn't the best first date, but I really like you Bella and maybe if I saw you again we might both feel comfortable with one another to one day be truly honest." His offer was tempting, although all of my defences were telling me to let him go and push him away. I'm not quite sure what inspired me to do it, but I reached up on my tiptoes and gave him a peck on the lips.

"I'd love to give this a go," I reply, smiling broadly, "Ring me to arrange our next date and you can tell me how you knew where I lived." With that I opened my flat door, shut it in his gaping face and squealed like one of those girls in those hideous romantic comedy films. What was Edward Cullen doing to me?

**A.N: Thanks to my wonderful BETA Vicky. Next weeks update will be up on Monday 21st of Feb as I'm going to Berlin the middle of next week until Sunday. Monday will be the earliest I will be able to post. Apologies. :)**


	5. Chapter 4: I Don't Feel Like Dancing

**A.N: I fail, I know, apologies for not getting this chapter up on Monday, I had a major laptop FAIL this week, luckily erything's backed up, but didn't get a chance to get this chapter BETA'ED. Should be back to regular Saturday updates from now on. **

**Disclaimer: I still Don't own twilight ;)  
**

**Chapter 4**

"So, the date wasn't that great but you _are_ seeing him again, have I got that right?" Rose was clearly confused, she may be good with stocks and shares, but when it comes to relationships in her eyes if you don't have sex after your first date it's not going to work. She had a lot to learn, not that I was an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

It was Friday morning and I had now gotten the hang of getting up in time to leisurely get ready for work, the downside on the particular morning being that it gave my wonderful, caring flat mate the opportunity to give me the Spanish Inquisition. The trouble was that she didn't seem to understand that nothing that exciting happened on our date, hell the only kiss of the entire night was a peck in the lips at the end of the night. I mean, it wasn't like I was going to make up details; I may have been a lot of things, but a liar I was not. As a result I ended up leaving a very disappointed Rose to make my way into work.

When I arrived, there was a different atmosphere to normal, excitement was palpable in the office, everyone was looking forward to the Ball. Mr McCarthy was no exception and was buzzing all day, really it was quite amusing, he even went to collect his tuxedo from the dry cleaners, another responsibility that should have been mine, but it seemed he was determined to do no work whatsoever that day. Apparently tickets to the Ball were like gold dust and I should have been much more thankful than I was to score some tickets after having only been an employee for a few weeks, I had just assumed it was standard practice to give the newbie tickets to make them feel welcome. When I discovered this I was grateful and made sure to thank Mr McCarthy profusely. He was bashful about the whole thing, declaring that I was the best personal assistant he'd ever had and that he had the feeling we would be seeing a lot more of each other, so it was no big deal. This unnerved me a bit, I was worried that he some how knew about my thing with Edward, but how could that be? It wasn't as if they seemed like the closest of siblings and it's not as if he would tell his brother about an in consequential first date, would he?

After spending the rest of the day worrying about the consequences of Mr McCarthy discovering my relationship with his brother, I knew it had to stop. This was the reason I was reluctant to go out with him in the first place, well that and his arrogance, and I had been so blinded by his gentlemanly behaviour and good looks that I forgot my principles. On my way home from work I took out my phone and typed him a quick text, I know, dumping someone by text is a low blow, but we weren't really going out, were we?

_**I'm really sorry, but I can't have a relationship with you whilst your brother's my boss, the conflicts of interest is too great and I can't afford to lose this job. Sorry again.**_

I received a reply in what felt like seconds.

_**Has Emmett said anything to you? **_

I frowned, Mr McCarthy hadn't said anything to me, but his choice of question had pretty much confirmed my earlier fear and reaffirmed my decision to end the relationship.

_**He hasn't said anything, but if he ever were to find out then it would place us both in a compromising position at work and I'm not willing to put my career in jeopardy for someone who couldn't even be honest with me on my first date and who I couldn't even be honest with in return. I'm sorry. **_

_**OK, I respect your decision, I won't contact you again.**_

When I read his reply, it felt as if my heart ached a little, I think there was a part of me that wanted him to fight for me, at the very least not be so accepting. Still this is what I wanted, well that's what I tried to convince my self anyhow and with a heavy heart I made my journey home in the wave of the Friday rush hour. At least I had the Ball on Saturday to look forward to.

On Saturday afternoon I found myself sat in front of Rose's dresser being attacked by a pair of hair straighteners. As soon as I had returned home the night before Rose knew from the glum look on my face and once she'd teased all the information out of me she had grown more determined than every to find my "soul mate" at the Ball and that one way for this to happen would be by me letting her give me a make over. So there I was being pinched and primed to look the best I possibly could. Of course, there was a floor to Rose's plan that she had failed to notice; I would be going with her. Next to Rose's beauty I would always look plain, something that I had to admit I had always been somewhat jealous of. Still, by the end of the make over, even I had to admit I looked the best I ever had. My dress was just as beautiful as it was in the shop, hugging my figure perfectly, with the colour perfectly complimenting my skin. My make up was simple, yet sophisticated, with very little foundation used, just a hint of blushed, eyeliner and mascara used, with a baby pink lip-gloss. My hair was largely down in flowing curls, with two strands from the front pinned round the back. Rose had on a floor length red dress, with spaghetti straps and a deep V that showed off rather a lot of cleavage. She also had a divine cream faux fur shawl with her hair straight and perfect. She looked the personification of beauty and I was sure that I would pail in comparison.

When we arrived at the Bloomsbury Ballroom both our mouths fell open in awe of the beauty of the decoration. The theme was "A starry night" and the walls had all been draped in some form of black cloth, which seemed to be diamond studded so that strategically placed lights throughout the room made the sparkle, much like stars in a night's sky. There were lots of people already mingling; we were ten minutes late to be fashionable (it was Rose's idea.) I noticed that the other employees invited were very much mingling with each other and were largely avoiding contact with the others, or perhaps the others were largely avoiding contact with them. I immediately became uncomfortable as I had failed to socialise with anyone apart from Mr McCarthy at work and was sure that the upper echelons of society would take one look at me and spit me straight back out. It was much to my surprise then that a beautiful pixie like girl danced up to me, smiling broadly.

"Hi, I'm Alice, I love your dress, who's it by?" I was so taken aback at this apparent total acceptance that I just stood there gaping at her. Thankfully, Rose was there to rescue me.

"It's by Alexander McQueen, mine is Prada and I'm Rose and this is my best friend Bella." She replied for me, giving me a nudge in an attempt to shock me out of my daze. We all shook hands and they started to discuss fashion of all things, so I just hmmed and ooed at the right moments whilst having a nose around the rest of the ballroom. I was doing as Rose had asked and was looking out for any good looking men who could be my "soul mate" and was most disappointed to find that an awful lot of them seemed to have at least one exaggerated facial feature, whether it be a ludicrously big nose, chin or ears, many of them had some serious issues that I've since put down to too much inbreeding in the past. After all, it's a well-known fact that the upper class of society all married their cousins right up until really the middle of the twentieth century.

"What do you do Bella?" I was drawn out of my inner contemplations of incest in the upper classes by the sound of my name, not knowing what I had been asked I looked to Rose for help.

"She asked you what you do for a living," She told me, before directing herself at Alice, "I must apologise for my friend, but fashion isn't her favourite topic of conversation."

"Yes, I am sorry, but I was contemplating everybody's big noses," I replied a little too loudly as a few people from neighbouring groups turned to stare disapprovingly as I quickly grabbed a glass of Champagne from a passing waiter, I was going to need it. Luckily for me, Alice just laughed at my lack of brain filter and looked at me expectantly, which is when I managed to finally answer the question, "I'm Emmett McCarthy's personal assistant." I answered confidently, with a hint of pride in my voice. I didn't care what these people thought of me and if the looked down on me for getting my invite by being employed by the right people its their loss.

"YOU'RE _THE _BELLA?" Alice's eyes went wide and she started literally bouncing up and down and squealed her response, yes, squealed. I resisted the urge to shudder and settled for giving her a suitably confused look, before glancing at Rose who looked just as perplexed. "My brother's haven't stopped going on about you for weeks!" As we both continued to give her a blank stare, Rose's genuine and mine an attempt to hide the growing panic inside of me. "You know, Emmett and Edward." She said, giving me a knowing smile. This whole situation really was just my luck.

Rose continued to look perplexed for another few seconds, it was clear when the penny dropped. "So Emmett, your boss, and Edward the singer are brothers... Which makes Edward the infuriating Sex God from your first day... WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

"I was just following his lead," I tried to defend myself, but I could see from the look on her face that I had hurt Rose, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but can you see now why I had to end it with him?" I tried to make things right, so I reached out and squeezed her hand.

"It's OK, but understand that I am your friend, I would have helped you had I known, hell, I would have never have made you go out with him in the first place. I'm sorry too, shall we just forgive each other?" Rose asked. Upon realising the moment of complete cheese that had just taken place before us, we grinned and all was forgiven.

"Wait a minute, you ended it with him? Is this why he was trying to persuade my parents to let him ditch this earlier, they didn't let him of course, but still," Alice broke in, clearly aggrieved that she didn't hold all of the information.

"Are you telling me Edward's _here_?" I ask, horrified.

"Of course, silly."

"I _told_ you that your soul mate was going to be here." _If only I were that lucky, _I remember thinking. At that a gong was sounded that signified it was time for dinner to begin.

Round dinner tables were situated round the main dance floor in the centre of the ballroom, sitting around twelve people each. Luckily for me, Rose had taken the intuitive of looking at the seating plan upon our entrance to the ballroom, so she took me by the elbow and led me to our seats, which were on a table which seemed to be dedicated to employees of McCarthy Industries. As we took our seats I smiled politely around the table, realizing much to my chagrin that these people were the same as the one's I had run away from in the cafeteria my first day. They were the gold diggers. The night was just getting better and better.

The meal was a magnificent three-course feast, nothing less than you would have expected from such an event and the company surprisingly was nice enough as they all seemed to studiously ignore us. I don't know if it was because they had concluded that I was a bitch due to my disappearance from the lunchroom, or if it was because I had inadvertently just spent the past few minutes mingling with the Boss' sister, whom had complimented me on my fashion sense. I looked over at Rose to find that she was clearly trying to contain hysterics of laughter; I caught her eye and gave her a questioning stare. _Why are they treating us like lepers? _She mouthed at me, to which I let out a loud gawf of laughter, gaining me critical stares from all the upper class wannabes around the table. _They think I'm a stuck up bitch. _I mouthed in reply, rolling my eyes at the same time for added effect. This earned me my own inappropriate laugh from Rose and I noticed those nearest us begin to inconspicuously edge away. _Great, _I remember thinking, _not only do they think I'm a bitch, but that I'm crazy also._

Once Rose and I had finished eating the meal in silence, it was time for the dancing to begin. The evening was to calumniate in an auction at the end for dances the last dance, one which I had no intention of taking part in as I didn't particular get on with dancing. A big band begun to play some, well, big band music, signalling it was time to dance and the people around our table quickly dispersed into couples, leaving me and Rose to amuse ourselves.

"Hey I bet if we danced together we'd give that guy an aneurysm," Rose broke the silence, pointing at a rather large grey man, this one had a big, red nose, who looked to be around the age of seventy, eyeing us in a rather too friendly manner. We both started giggling in response to the absurdity of her comment in the situation we were in. "You know, when I agreed to be your plus one I didn't realise it was going to be quite so snobby, I mean, if the employees of McCarthy Industries are treated this way, why are the tickets so highly sought after?" I opened my mouth to tell her it was all about favouritism, but she gave me no opportunity, clearly on a rant, "I'm sure, before we came to sit here for the meal, we had at least seven of the Blair Waldorf wannabes over there were drooling over us in jealousy, but as soon as it became clear you were an employee look at how snooty they're being," she vaguely gestured across the room, where sure enough I found a group of girls, who looked like they belonged in Gossip Girl, trying to literally look down there noses at us, really it was rather comical, "And you were right earlier, all of these men do have big noses... Oh goodness, NOW I see why he's the Sex God." Rose had clearly had too much to drink as her voice had been rising slowly throughout her tirade and was now pointing straight at Edward who had emerged from the crowd looking positively edible in the tuxedo he was wearing. He didn't have a ridiculously enlarged facial feature, just particularly lickable jaw lines. Yummy.

Of course, thanks to Rose's wonderful attention grabbing he was now staring straight at me with a some what wild look in his eyes that I had never seen before. I was unsure if it was lust or anger and this made me edgy. As he made his way towards our table, where I was trying to sink into the floor, he straightened out his features into his moisture inducing lopsided smirk, evidently he wasn't going to play fair that evening.

"Good evening Rose, it seems my sister has outed me, I must apologise and take responsibility for any ill feeling you have toward your friend." Gah, he was just so eloquent when he wanted to be.

"Don't worry, I have no hard feelings for my friend Mr _McCarthy_, only for you. Do you realise the compromising position you have put my friend in, one that thanks your lies I actively encouraged? Not cool Mr McCarthy, not cool."

"His name is not McCarthy," I interrupted, which earned me an irritated glare from Rose, "It's Cullen." I watched in mild amusement as her expression changed a mixture of shock and envy. I think the envy was aimed at me though I'm not sure.

"I must disagree with you Miss..." he trailed of, bypassing any personal conversation about him only to get into a muddle when realising he was unaware of Rose's surname, bless.

"Hale." I helped him out.

"I must disagree Miss Hale," he started again, "Contrary to the belief of Miss Swan I have not put her in a compromising position. In fact, my brother champions any relationship I have with her, he speaks very highly of her as an employee and as a _friend_." As flattered as I was to hear that Mr McCarthy thought of me as a Friend I was horrified that he was aware of mine and Edward's almost relationship and was beginning to get a but fed up with being talked about as if I wasn't an active member of the conversation.

"What about when it's_ over_?" Rose practically seethed. "Is she expected to continue working for your brother with no awkwardness what so ever? Moreover, how is she expected to continue working there after you break her heart, because that's what you'll do, I'm sure of it, I've seen it before. You come over here all swooning and good looking, you'll seduce her and then you'll leave once you have received what you were seeking." Her words had undoubtedly hit Edward hard, with a look of pain flitting over his features, just for a second.

"Why do you immediately doom us to failure?" He asked, hurt evident in his voice, "Why is it not plausible to you that we might be perfect for one another? How do you know we won't end up married? How will she ever be happy if you don't let her live her own life?"

"OK, I've had enough of being ignored in the conversation, I'm right here, remember? I think you both need to just take a step back and allow me to make my own decisions. Now, how long exactly has Mr McCarthy been aware of our relationship?"

"Since he asked me why I wanted your address," he answered, looking me in the eye unashamedly, which caused me to gasp slightly. "So, now you are making your own decisions may I have this dance?" I had to give him ten points for timing, as he asked me just as new song had started to play, but it was just another clear sign of how little we really knew each other.

"Unfortunately me and dancing is never really a good idea unless you want an appointment with the A&E department." I joked, politely declining his offer.

"Not to worry, I'll just bid for you in the auction," he replied, unfazed by my decline.

"But I'm not in the auction."

"Yes you are, every woman is in the auction, it's not optional, didn't you know?" He smirked at me, before turning his back and swiftly walking away from the table.

"Any advances on £1,500? Going, going Sold!" Carlisle Cullen was acting as auctioneer for this evening and it was clear to me that, apart from his colouring Edward was his father's son in the looks department, with his clear blue eyes, slicked back blond hair and beautifully clear cheekbones. We were halfway though the auction, rapidly approaching my slot, and I was becoming more and more nervous. It was painfully clear that very few people were interested in dancing with the employees, who were making embarrassingly low amounts of money and largely being sold to the old fat guy Rose pointed out to me earlier. To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

"Our next lot is this lovely brunette by the name of Bella, Luscious Bella," Carlisle indicated over at me smiling kindly. It freaked me out somewhat that he knew who I was, he hadn't mentioned half the girls already sold by name, yet he knew mine. Evidently I had been a topic of conversation in the Cullen household. He glanced away, back to the dance floor where the men had gathered to purchase themselves a dance for the next song.

"For this beautiful lady I'll start the bidding at £500," I'm sure I looked surprised, every other employee had their bidding start at one hundred pounds, but as soon as the words left his mouth that same old guy placed his bid. Ewe.

"Do I see £1000 pounds anywhere?" There was then an audible gasp of surprise in the audience, I glanced up to see Edward with his bidding card in the air. I suspected all of the girls were hoping to be bought by him, but for some unfathomable reason I seemed to be his pick, which made me a hated figure among the female population of the Ball, I don't think I was that bothered.

"My son is bid on £1000," Dr McCarthy said, just to make clear, "Do I see £1,500 anywhere?" And so the bidding went on, higher and higher. It seemed that the old guy wasn't willing to give up on me particularly easily, however, the more Edward bid on me the more the other bachelors started to gain interest. Apparently if Edward was willing to go a long way to get something, in this community it meant that it was worth getting. The trouble was, as I had already established, none of the other bachelors could even shine a light to Edward's good looks and besides, I really wasn't that great a dancer, so I'd rather stand on the feet of someone I knew than a total stranger.

Before I knew it the bidding had reached _£50,000 _for just one dance and, of course, Edward was still in the lead. _So, this is what you do when you have too much money, _I remember thinking. I mean, don't get me wrong Edward was doing a good job of proving he was serious about me, but _still _the guy could spend £50,000 on a dance. I had never had £50,000 pounds at all. We were from different worlds.

Eventually, after several minutes of a fierce bidding battle Edward won me, as if he ever weren't going too for a whopping £100,000. I walked down from the raised platform where the big band still sat and the rest of the lots were waiting their turn and did my best "sexy" walk over to Edward, which I feel went rather well considering my heals were a bitch and I'd already been in them for several hours. Edward offered me his hand, which I smiled and took, he pulled me to his waist.

"Now, ordinarily, I would say that you're the most expensive dance here, but your friends up next and she has had the misfortune to catch the eye of my brother." Edward whispered in my ear, his breath fanned my face, the smell of which momentarily caused me to forget what he was saying, but when the meaning of the words struck me I was bought back to Earth with a bump.

"What are you talking about," I gave my reply in a breathy whisper, which prompted a blush from me at how desperate I sounded.

"You'll see," was his only reply. He was being infuriating again so I scowled and pouted at him. Yes, at times I was incredibly immature.

"And our final lot of the evening is this beautiful blond, Miss Rose Hale. Now, I can sense the palpable excitement here, so who will bid me £5000 pounds?"

"I WILL." Everyone turned to see Emmett waving his bidding card manically in the air, grinning wildly. I looked up at the stage to see Rose giggling slightly, that's when I knew he must have made an impression on her. Rose may have been a girly girl most of the time, but when it came to men she took no prisoners, as she had already proven with Edward that night. From that point onwards the bidding was fast and furious, which left me gaping when they quickly passed my record. I looked to Edward for some form of explanation.

"These people hold more respect and belief in Emmett than they do me." Was Edward's explanation, he looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world. When you think about it I suppose it was, after all, Emmett almost certainly was the richest person there and he made all his riches, he wasn't given his money. It was in that moment I realised two things; first, Edward had used the term "these people," not referring to himself as one of them and secondly, that both brothers seemed to have the same aim, to work for their own achievements with out using their heritage, they were just doing so in very different ways. It made me wonder what Alice was doing and if she had the same outlook.

I was drawn from my inner musings by the big cheer that was made when Rose was sold for £500,000. It seemed Emmett had grown fed up of the bidding game and had just put forward an amount of money he knew people were unlikely to surpass. It was now time for the auction dance. The band started playing Mr Bo jangles and everyone took their partner or in a few cases partners around the dance floor. Edward took me in a classic ballroom hold, and much to my surprise we danced round the floor with relative ease and grace.

Spotting the surprise on my face Edward smirked and said, "It's all in the leading." _Ah, there's my cocky bastard, I was wondering where you were hiding! _I thought and realised, much to my astonishment, that I no longer found it annoying, but endearing. Man I was falling hard and fast. The Dance came to a close and everyone exited the dance floor. It was announced by Dr Cullen that over £1 million pounds had been raised towards Mrs Cullen's humanitarian aid, which was met with a healthy self-righteous applause from the audience. Edward assured me that it was one of the best amounts that had ever been made, even if over half of the final amount had come from him and Emmett between them.

After that it seemed the night was drawing to a close so Edward and I met up with Rose and Emmett who had been inseparable since the dance. Edward mentioned to them it was the end of the night and that he and Emmett should escort us home. I had thought this was a mistake and was bracing myself for a feminist rant from Rose, but was shocked when she eagerly accepted the offer. _How odd, _I remember thinking; _maybe she's falling harder than I am! _

The limo ride home was... interesting. Rose and Emmett couldn't keep their hands off one another, whilst Edward and I just sort of sat there, eyeing each other awkwardly. Once we had arrived at our flat the guys walked us to our door. Seemingly Edward's gentlemanly way must have been due to the way he had been bought up. We said goodbye to them, Edward giving me a kiss on the cheek, Emmett giving Rose a full on snog. Before they left they passed on Alice's number claiming that she had loved us and would love to meet up and get to know each other better.

When they had finally gone Rose and I closed our door, turned to each other, jumped up and down and started squealing like little girls who had just found their Prince Charming at the Ball


	6. Chapter 5: Food, Glorious Food!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. *sigh***

Chapter 5

The week following the ball passed in a whirlwind, it seemed Rose and I had caused quite a stir at the ball and were now the subject of office rumours and gossip. Apparently Edward was a widely sought after bachelor and the centre of many fantasies within the workers of Cullen Industries as they'd seen him coming and going over the years. Not that I could really complain, I had fantasised about him during our first meeting; he was a Sex God after all. Both of us girls had easily surpassed the price paid by any of the employees, making me sort of employee royalty and a target for viscous jealousy. Lets just say I stayed hidden in my office even more so than usual in an attempt to save myself from the harpies out to get me all over the place. On the Monday morning I had no less than three people attempt to trip me up with various means, including a banana skin, on the journey to my desk alone. If I'm entirely honest it was a little bit scary; who knew grown women could be so callous?

Never one to allow pettiness to ruin my mood I soldiered on and was pleasantly rewarded when Alice appeared on Tuesday lunchtime to take me to lunch. Apparently we were going to be "great friends" and despite myself I felt my enthusiasm growing with hers.

"My brothers have never been ones for big romantic gestures, so imagine my surprise when they both gave the same gesture on the same evening! Both you and Rose are certainly having an effect. I've never seen Edward actively going after something before, let alone a girl." She said as I took a bite into my crayfish, rocket and lemon sandwich, Alice herself was picking at a goats cheese sandwich. We were sat outside the Eat on the Southbank, sun shining brightly down on us, slight breeze blowing bringing a chill acting as a reminder that Autumn was just around the corner. Alice, bless her, had wasted no time trying to fish for information as to how my best friend and I had managed to steal her brother's hearts. I felt for her, I really did, when it became clear I already knew more about Edward than she did, unaware for her brother's passion for music and a career that wasn't handed to him thanks to his heritage.

"Maybe it was fate," was the lame answer I came up with. I actually disagree with the concept of fate, but I had a suspicion that Alice was a spiritual person and would buy into the "It was meant to be" bull shit.

"Awwww, it's so sweet you think that, I felt the same way when I met my other half, Jasper, last year. He just walked into my boutique one day and I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. We're getting married in the spring," I smiled as she waved her ring finger that bore a beautifully understated engagement ring, knowing I had won her over.

"Congratulations! I had no idea you were engaged!" I replied, seizing the opportunity to move the conversation off of me. "Do you own a boutique then?" That was all the prompting Alice needed to launch into a full description of her vocation. She was a designer and owner of a boutique just off of Oxford Street, which was doing so well she was considering expanding to other cities through out the UK, she was thinking of starting in Manchester. I smiled and began to realise that she really was a nice person and just wanted to get to know the girl who she seemed to think had stolen her brother's heart (although I still had issues coming to terms with that concept.) By the end of lunch I was beginning to feel inadequate, unable to truly reveal any of myself to her, my defences had just been up for too long, hell I could hardly reveal much of myself to Edward.

Alice surprised me by appearing to take me to lunch again the following day, this time declaring there was something I "just had to see." I was wary to say the least, the enthusiasm one woman so small could produce was unbelievable. I became even more apprehensive as we headed into Soho, with absolutely no idea where we were going. When she pulled me into an art gallery, that looked too modern for me to be able to understand, my worry peaked. If Alice had brought me there to advise her on some art buying she could surly be disappointed, I mean there was a six foot square canvas of blue paint on one wall being sold for over £1000. Really? I thought, I could do better than that.

"Welcome to Art Of Life," a deliciously familiar voice filtered through the gallery, which was partitioned with several walls providing spaces to display as much "art" as possible in the space given. An involuntary smile immediately appeared on my face when I realised lice had brought me to have lunch with Edward. When he rounded a corner, finally coming into view the mandatory smile on his face, which was obviously ordinarily used for customers, morphed into his trade mark lopsided smirk that caused tingles to shoot right through my body. He didn't hesitate in pulling me into his embrace and placing a chaste kiss on my forehead, his affection warming my heart.

"Not that I would ever complain about a visit from my two favourite ladies, but to what do I owe the pleasure?" Oh, there's me smooth talking Sex God, I had missed him.

"I decided to run an intervention of sorts to sort out your moping," Alice replied, giving her brother a pointed look, "Seriously, if you miss her just arrange to see her. Besides there's something you need to ask her," this peeked my interest, "and I figured you should show her where you work, and don't worry," she added now looking straight at me, "I've cleared it with Emmett you have the afternoon off, I think he wanted to Cristen his office anyway..." an image which caused both Edward and I to groan and Alice to wrinkle her nose. "Now you kids have fun. And stay safe." With that final innuendo she flashed us both her megawatt smile and left, leaving a stunned silence in her wake with Edward and I staring at each other in bemused happiness.

"Well... I …..uh... don't have any food here so..." Edward was the first to break the silence with his adorable stuttering, before trailing off as his eyes fixated on something behind me. I turned to see what had his interest held. By the door was a picnic basket with a blank envelope on top, curiosity peaked I closed the distance between me and the mysterious object in three small strides and cautiously opened the envelope to see it enclosed a short note from the pixie.

Edward, Bella,

Here's your lunch.

You can thank me later. ;)

Alice

x

Inside the basket was a whole array of picnic food, sandwiches, crisps, salad, cupcakes, strawberry's and chilled champagne. She had even included a picnic blanket. Touched by Alice's clear support for our relationship I made a mental note to take her out for a drink at some point. Edward closed the gallery whilst I laid out the blanket and food in a secluded area that could not be seen for the window of the gallery. We didn't speak until we were both settled with a glass of champagne and a sandwich, we just worked in companionable silence.

"So..." Edward started, appearing slightly nervous, "This is my day job as it were. Uh, I'm the curator here. None of the work is actually mine, although I do sometimes paint in my free time, though it's not as abstract as most of the stuff here." I breathed a silent sigh of relief, hearing that I would probably like Edward's work if he ever showed me any. I wouldn't have to lie. Or hurt his feelings with my honesty. I had never really considered what Edward did for money, I think I'd inadvertently assumed that he just lived off of his parent's wealth. I should have known better, of course, all of the Cullen children appeared to be working their own way up in the world. Doing everything for themselves seemed to be important to all of them.

"That's incredible, you should show me some of your work sometime," My face burned at appearing overly eager, but the words had left my mouth before my brain had really registered them. "I mean... only if you want to... you don't have to... uh..."

Edward only smiled kindly at my stuttering, "I would love to show you my art, but first we need to sort something out. Both you and I have been stuttering all over the place today, this shouldn't be awkward." He said gesturing between the two of us. I could have agreed more and felt my body relax, not having realised I had been so tense.

Conversation flowed freely after that, both of us having a very enjoyable lunch, with neither of us getting nervous again. That is until the very end when Edward was just finishing taking me round the gallery. (He found my varying levels of disgust for all of the art work highly amusing, and said that this type of art was "in" at the moment. Whatever that meant.)

"Bella, I, uh, need to ask you something..." suddenly I remembered what Alice had said before she left. Yes I was certainly curious. I just raised my eyebrows, signalling for him to just spit it out. "?" Nope. I didn't understand a word of what he said the first time and told him so, asking him to repeated himself sl-ow-ly. "Will you to come to lunch with my parents and siblings on Sunday?" Edward was worried over asking me to officially meet his parents. I was so overcome with adoration for how sweet he was being all throughout the afternoon that I just stared at him smiling, prompting him to go on with his adorable stuttering, which was a far cry from the cocky bastard he had been when we first met. "I think Emmett's going to invite Rose as well, so you wouldn't be alone..."

"Of course I will come!" I say, cutting off his nervous rambling and throwing myself at him in an attempt to quell the rising levels of nervousness I felt at the prospect of meeting his parents. I was toughed that he felt strongly enough to ask me, after only just a few days of us being in a proper relationship. Above all else it saddened me that I would never be able to reciprocate and introduce Edward to my family, I couldn't even bring myself to tell him about my past. As content as I was with my life, I knew it couldn't last, I knew I would have to reveal my true self in the not too distant future. The sad part was, I knew then that I had already let myself fall too deep with Edward and his family and I wasn't sure if I would be able to go back to the way I was.

Still, I would go to that lunch, with my head held high and try to win over his parents in the same way I seemed to manage with the rest of the family, hopefully using a charm and sophistication that existed somewhere in my being. I would be Edward's Bella because if I wasn't her I'd be nothing.

**AN: Apologies for any mistakes in the chapter, again finished it too late to send to Vicky. **

**So, I said last week that we would be having regular Saturday updates from now on. I failed to realise that next Saturday I'm in Belfast being a geek. As a result, next weeks chapter will be up on Sunday. Apologies. :)**

**Also, If you fancy following my rambleings my twitter is charlief190 **

**Reviews are appriciated!  
**


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